Greg responds...

Inspirations, I think I've discussed. If you read the archives and have a more specific question about what did or didn't inspire me, let it fly.

As to who the characters were based on... well, no one was based on anybody specific from my life. Though all of them came out of my life experience and (I'm sure) the life experiences of the other writers, editors, artists and producers who worked on the series.

[It's an inherent danger of this whole ASK GREG set-up, that it always comes off as if I was working by myself. Let me state again that a LOT OF PEOPLE contributed a lot of extremely creative material to this show.]

Greg responds...

The Ultra-Pack was not supposed to be part of the "Future Tense" spin-off.
It was just going to be part of the on-going Gargoyles series. The "fifth member" would have been an all-new character. No one you know.

Greg responds...

It depends what you mean. Internally, we would have done what we did with Othello, Desdemona and Iago. That is, we would have given them designations in the script, so the artists and animators, etc, knew who we were talking about. In the show itself, we would have avoided using those names.
The gargoyles would refer to each other by relationship, just as they did in our very first episode. At least, that was the plan. I had a back-up plan if that just didn't seem to be working, which entailed Prince Malcolm giving each of his gargoyle warriors a Biblical or Mythological name. They never would use those names with each other, but the humans could use them and the audience could too. By the way, this series would have been set in the year 971.

Greg responds...

I don't remember if I had any. I may not even have been the person who came up with it. What I do remember is that from the moment I saw Bob Kline's drawing of a castle atop a skyscraper, I knew it was cool.

Greg responds...

People love to toss around incendiary terms. We had no "censor".

Yes, of course, the romantic relationship between Goliath and Elisa was planned from the start. I'm sure that's self-evident. I wouldn't call it "Lois & Clark-ish" though; I don't really see the parallel there.

I wanted to play their "courtship" realistically. I had two individuals who were destined for each other. But that doesn't mean things would progress quickly. Elisa is an extremely guarded woman in many ways. She's had to be. She's succeeded in a career that is traditionally male. Dating fellow cops is a dangerous move for a female detective. Double standards, sexual harrassment claims, precinct harmony etc. make it less than ideal. Dating crooks isn't too appealing either, for obvious reasons. Who else does she meet working the night shift as she does? You'll notice that the person who was always putting the breaks on any romantic discussion that Goliath tried to initiate was Elisa. She has trouble admitting her feelings, even to her mother. She's fairly secretive.

In addition, Elisa had, and still has, a keen sense of the situation's impossibility. I think Elisa would like to have kids someday. Not necessarily right away, but someday. That's not possible with Goliath. At least not in the traditional way. I hope "High Noon" revealed that Elisa is not Fox Mulder. She was never looking for weirdness to enter her life. She wanted, and to some extent still wants, a normal life. She could never have that with Goliath.

Goliath had a totally different problem. He had a wounded heart. Gargoyles mate for life. Mates die, but it was beyond his understanding that his mate could still be alive, and they would not be together. That's why Goliath was still trying to win Demona back as late as "Vows". That's why he never quite knows what to do with her. What to make of her. That was a huge distraction from Elisa. His feelings for Elisa were already present, as early as "Awakening, Part Three". But it took him awhile to recognize them. And when he did, he was ashamed. He felt he shouldn't be able to fall in love again.Certainly not with a human. (Don't for a minute believe that Goliath is immune to prejudice. No one is. At least no one I've ever met.) What's interesting is that Goliath fell in love with Elisa even before he understood how physically attractive she was. He didn't realize that until "The Mirror". He tried to talk to her about his feelings on numerous occasions. She always cut him off. And maybe, he thought, that was for the best. But that's also why the events of "Sentinel" were so painful to him. She didn't remember him or their life together. She didn't trust him. She even tried to shoot him. It broke his heart. (Again.) Of course, it wasn't her fault, and he knew it. And when push came to shove, she instinctively knew that they were connected and so saved him from Nokkar.

And that's the problem they were both faced with. Not having anything more than a platonic friendship made sense to both of them. But that wasn't possible. They didn't have a choice. They loved each other. It was almost a curse.

That's what was going on with Elisa in "Hunter's Moon". Jason and Goliath actually have a number of things in common. Jason's the kind of guy she goes for, and gee whiz, he was human. (Of course, he was also a Hunter, but she didn't know that at first.) She really liked him. And if she had never met Goliath... who knows? I think Officer Morgan is another guy who could have made Elisa very happy -- if she had never met Goliath. But she had.
And her love for Goliath transcended their differences. That's why she kissed Goliath at the end of "Hunter's Moon". That's what was going on between them at the end of "The Journey".

But that didn't solve the problem. Eventually, they'd have to TALK about it. Really talk about it. They'd have to discuss the pragmatic aspects of it. Not to get too crude, but how does a gargoyle make love? (I know the answer to that, by the way, but let's try to keep things clean.) What about children? Goliath has Angela and a whole clan of rookery kids on Avalon, but Elisa's never going to be a mother to Angela. And what about their future?

If I had continued on the show, I would have dramatized this conversation, with the end result being that they would have decided once and for all NOT to have a romantic relationship. The realities of the discussion would temporarily overwhelm their feelings for each other.

That break-up wouldn't last long. Because, ultimately, they have no choice.
They love each other with one of those great mythic loves of song and story.
But again, that doesn't solve any problems. (Well, actually, it does, but not the problems I'm talking about.) They'd have dealt with each issue as it came up.

Now back to your original question about censorship. Who knows what problems we might or might not have run into down the line? I can't answer that. But we had ZERO problems during the 66 episodes that I worked on. Elisa and Goliath loved each other. That was a given. But the characters we created weren't about to jump into interspecies sex, so there was nothing to object to. Heck, it took 65 episodes for them to kiss on the lips. What I'm getting at is that the slow pace was intentional. It suited the characters to go slow. But that dovetailed nicely with the fact that there was nothing for anyone to object to.

We also had the added help that Disney's Beauty and the Beast had just come out and raised everyone's consciousness. The animated lesson not to judge a book by it's cover was well-learned throughout the halls of Disney.

Greg responds...

Yes, I had plenty of stories planned for TimeDancer. The meeting of Xanatos and Demona was the second story. The first one was a Constantine/Finella/ Mary adventure. There was also, as I've mentioned, an extended visit to the year 2158. Plus a couple more trips to the past, including one to Ishimura in Japan's feudal era. And, yes, ultimately, Brooklyn would have rejoined the Manhattan clan -- five minutes after he left, from their point of view. (From his, forty years would have passed.)

Greg responds...

I don't feel like revealing that right now. Sorry. Ask me again sometime.

Greg responds...

It's not at all true. Who'd you hear that from? "Avalon" was always supposed to be a triptych. Not one long story, but three connected stories.
What IS true is that the final script for "Avalon, Part Two" came in very long. We did have to cut some stuff for time. Nothing important. But the Archmage did walk his allies and the audience through his plans a little bit more. There was some helpful expository stuff and a few nice character bits lost, but no story points.

Greg responds...

I did have plans.

Seriously, Coldsteel would have remained a threat. Coldstone & Coldfire would have eventually joined a clan. But I'm not saying which one.

Greg responds...

1. Sevarius was hypothesizing, but he was more right than wrong. Demona's
transformation was magical. Magic compensated. Why wouldn't it work for the
Mayan gargoyles?

2. Yes.

Greg responds...

Damn good question. Most people reading this won't like the answer, but NO,
Gargoyles were never THAT popular. We had midling success, and a core group
of extremely loyal followers, but it never made the impact that Power Rangers
made. Some merchandise did well. Some of it died. Our ratings started out
promising. Moved on to respectable. Moved to disappointing and ended up
being lousy. I wish it weren't so, and there were tons of mitigating
factors. But they don't alter the facts.

Greg responds...

1) Brooklyn developed overtime. He began as two characters in the show's
original comedy development. "Amp" looked more like Lexington, but had
Brooklyn's basic personality. "Lassie" (a male gargoyle who admired the
collie's heroic qualities) was an idiot-savant character. But he looked a
bit like Brooklyn. I think Bob Kline did the original designs on these
comedy characters. (They were all diminutive.) Dave Schwartz redesigned
Brooklyn, Lex and Broadway. The final models were done by Kazuyoshi Takeuchi
based on Dave's inspirational design. Frank Paur also made some minor
changes to it.

2) One answer is because the character demanded it. That is the stories of
his life seemed to exist and need to be told. On another level, I felt that
childhood friendships must evolve or die. Brooklyn, Lex and Broadway
couldn't go through life as The Three Musketeers. By sending Brooklyn away
for five minutes of Broadway's life, but forty years of Brooklyn's it would
demonstrate that although the trio would always be the best of friends, the
days of being joined at the hip were quite, quite over.

Greg responds...

She was fated to a lot more self-delusion, but eventually she would have had
a true epiphany. And two more great loves. (Aren't I a stinker?)

Greg responds...

I've answered that question a lot. Gore, maybe you could repost that long
message I sent you to the AskGreg Archives. You know the one where I
list the factors why the show was cancelled and explain what steps might
be taken down the line. It's been passed around a lot, but some people may
not have seen it.

The short answer to your question is to keep the flame burning and hope the
live-action movie spurs renewed interest.

Greg responds...

Well, first of all I'd have them discuss it.

Then come to the conclusion that it was impossible.

Then I was going to send them on a Halloween double date. Goliath with
Delilah. Elisa with either Morgan or Jason (I hadn't decided). The date
would have made it clear that no matter how impossible their relationship
seemed, they would just have to find a way to make it work.

Eventually, there would have been some kind of commitment ceremony. I don't
know if you'd call it a wedding per se, but the purpose would have been clear
enough.

I know more, but that's enough for now. (Boy, this is my day to be coy.)

Greg responds...

I once said that given enough time and episodes, Gargoyles would have
included every legend ever. I was scoffed at. Completely scoffed at. But I
meant it.

Greg responds...

Well, I'm not going to give these all away right now, but I'm feeling
obnoxious, so I'll give you some useless clues just to drive you crazy.

Keep in mind that there were once hundreds of clans, but most of them died
out by the end of the middle ages. We're talking about new and/or surviving
clans, not every clan that ever existed.

The first Eight existed at the time of "Awakenings" (1994).
1. London - Most of the clan actually lives on an estate just outside
London.
2. Ishimura.
3. Guatemala - down to only four gargoyles, but poised for a
comeback.
4. No way you could guess this one. I don't think there are any
clues in the show's content.
5. Ditto.
6. This one could be guessed by a sharp viewer who understands the
way we planted clues in the show. For example, Elisa and Matt's
first conversation in her car, re: the Illuminati, Loch Ness
Monster, etc.
7. Ditto.
8. Avalon - formed after the eggs hatched on Avalon. Duh.

Two more existed (barely) by the end of "The Journey" (1996).

9. Manhattan - Our guys, of course, as a start.
10. Shouldn't be too hard to guess. Though "Goliath Chronicles" might
be a trifle distracting. Two more existed by 2158.
11. This one would take some extrapolation, but it's possible it could
be figured out if the life-purpose of certain existing characters
were followed to their logical conclusions.
12. This would also take some extrapolation. Think "nostalgia".

Two more clans would be formed in the years that follow.

13. Very tough to guess, but possible via the same kind of thinking
as #6.
14. Even harder to guess, but an absolute natural.

Anyone who can guess 8 out of 14 is a true fan.

Anyone who can guess 10 is a true fan with too much time on his or her hands.

Anyone who can guess 12 is a true fan with too much time and a lot of
intuitive ability.

Anyone who can guess all 14 is just a psychic freak.

Greg responds...

Some things have already come true. Alexander was born. The Clock Tower was
destroyed. Other things have already been proven untrue. Primarily, Goliath
did return to Manhattan before 2036. As for the rest, well, ask me some
other time.

Greg responds...

He survived. The Thailogs of this world always survive.

Greg responds...

1. No.

2. Disney would NEVER consider selling the rights.

3. Michael Reaves and I are officially co-producers on the movie. I'm not
sure what that means exactly yet. But we are being kept abreast of things.

Which brings me to my first set of as promised RAMBLINGS.

RUMORS AND THE MOVIES
I'm relatively new to the internet, but I've just been appalled by the way
people clearly start rumors based on nothing with the
explicit purpose, to my thinking, of misleading dedicated fans. Does this
make them feel superior? Why aren't they ever called to account for it?

For example, who started the Jean-Claude VanDamme rumor? Ask yourself where
you first saw it. Track down who told you. Ask that person who told him or
her. When you find the guy or gal who first stated that Mr. Van Damme was
going to be in the GARGOYLES live-action movie, mark him down on some kind of
list as untrustworthy.

Anyway, here's what's going on with the Live-Action Feature, in development
at Touchstone Pictures, as of 4-10-97.

There are NO ACTORS attached. NONE. Not Jean-Claude. Not Jonathan Frakes
or Marina Sirtis or anyone. No one. It's way too soon.

Tom Jacobson is the producer. Dean Devlin is the writer. They are the only
two people currently attached to the project. The only ones. (Besides
Michael and myself, in our minor roles as co-producers.)

The script is supposed to come in from Dean by the end of this month.
GOLIATH is the lead character. Other gargoyles will appear but this is
basically Goliath's movie. Saying anything else before the first draft is
even completed is folly. If someone claims to know more, and he or she isn't
Dean Devlin, then I'd take the info with a boulder of salt.

Anyway, end of ramble.

Greg responds...

Frank doesn't work at DreamWorks anymore, so I don't know when I'll next talk
to him, but when I do, I'll let him know you guys want him to show. Maybe
we'll set up a special "Ask Frank" day or something later. Angela, I'm a
writer, not an artist, so I don't have a lot of advise to offer to
animators. Learn your craft. Compile a portfolio. Hustle yourself some
work. I know that's not much, but I hope it helps.

Greg responds...

Again, no censors. One very understanding lady. I think while I was at
Disney, we received two letters of complaint about the show. Both had
nothing to do with content. In fact, it was clear from the content of the
letters that neither complaintant had ever watched an episode. They objected
to the show's Satanic content, basing their objections on the way the
Gargoyles looked in the commercials or opening titles.

Actually, we were expecting a flood of this type of mail. It never came.

Greg responds...

O.k. I can only speak to Gargoyles, not to the Goliath Chronicles. We had no
censors on Gargoyles. We did have an executive in charge of Broadcast
Standards and Practices. Her name was Adrienne Bello. (Still is,
actually.) She loved the show and is a personal friend. She understood that
some things were necessary to story, and that in context they wouldn't be
that bad. Duncan's magical death wasn't problematic. But we weren't allowed
to stab him, because we didn't want anyone getting a kitchen knife and
imitating that. Fox and Xanatos did live together at the Eyrie before they
got married, but they also had separate bedrooms until they got married. I'm
not saying nothing ever happened between them, and certainly we were walking
a line, but I think we were always responsible to the young end of our
audience. Adrienne allowed us to do this without compromising the shows
integrity.

Greg responds...

Disney's Gummi Bears. Hill Street Blues. Yoknapatwpha County, i.e. the
complete works of William Faulkner. The Complete works of William
Shakespeare. The Simpsons. Various comic book universes. The novels of
Tony Hillerman. Lots of myth, legends, etc, which I have always been
interested in. Plus the input of all the other talented people who put the
show together with me. I was not a one-man band here.

Greg responds...

Depends on how you define "mortal".

Greg responds...

Yes. Magic isn't an exact science. There are glitches. If Demona gets
angry enough, we get a glitch.

Greg responds...

Magic powers the Phoenix Gate. The idea for the gate came to me in a fevered
dream (well, actually in an editorial panic), while we were working on
"Vows". We new we needed a maguffin for that story. Something that both
Xanatos and Demona would want to get from Goliath. Something that Goliath
associated with his love for Demona, but didn't know the true nature of.
Originally there was no time travel in that episode. Then I came up for with
the idea of the Gate for the maguffin. I squashed the entire episode into
Act One, so that we could have two acts of time travel. That's one reason,
why that episode might seem a little rushed. It really should have been a
two-parter.

Greg responds...

Ah, the mystery of genetics....

Greg responds...

We had very specific plans for Yama. I had a few ideas for Sora and Zafiro
as well. And we had long term plans for all of the surviving clans. There
were ten clans at the time of "The Journey". Although some of those clans,
were either in pretty sorry shape or just beginning. I had planned on having
fourteen clans eventually.

Greg responds...

I've been fascinated by Gargoyles since at least my college days. But
someone else at Disney made the suggestion to do a show about Gargoyles.
That's all they gave me. That one word. Gargoyles. I ran with it. Though
I had a LOT of help. It was a real team effort.

Greg responds...

I like cartoons. I always have. But I don't know if I was inspired to work
in animation. As I was finishing graduate school, I began looking for jobs.
Disney TV Animation offered me one. So I took it. Sorry, it's not much of a
story.

Greg responds...

A lot.

Greg responds...

The magus comes up? I'm not sure what you mean. The Magus was a human
being. He trained under the Archmage, after Demona gave up being the
Archmage's apprentice. The Children of Oberon have a lot of stories. I'm
not going to tell any here. Not today, anyway.

Greg responds...

Macbeth was reading Merlin's writing. Merlin sealed those scrolls with his
own hand. Macbeth wasn't even born when Arthur first surfaced. To Macbeth,
Arthur was a great and legendary king.

Greg responds...

Whoah, slow down there. Demona came to America for many of the same
reasons most immigrants came. There's a story behind it, but I'm not
ready to give that away yet. As I've mentioned once or twice before, Demona
and Xanatos were introduced by Owen/Puck, who had met Demona centuries
before. The Weird Sisters kept a careful watch on Demona, but largely stayed
out of her life. With two exceptions.

Greg responds...

After events in "City of Stone", Demona was persona non grata in Scotland.
She began to travel a lot. She also began to study sorcery. To accumulate
wealth. Her immortality allowed her to make long term plans. To gather
materials that might not be of use to her now, but might be very useful
later. The reason she was in Italy was to steal the Medici Tablet, which
contained a powerful magical spell. Too powerful for her to control during
the fifteenth century. But she had time.

Greg responds...

Basically, she survived. She gathered the tattered remains of the various
clans of Gargoyles in Scotland. She became their leader. She stole food to
survive, and she wasn't very careful about the humans, innocent or otherwise
that got in her way. After the original Hunter surfaced, she alternated
hunting him and being hunted by him. She hid. It was a miserable existence.

Greg responds...

You're mistaken. She doesn't smash Brendan & Margot. All those Stone
Statues look alike. That's my answer, and I'm sticking with it.

Greg responds...

The character of "Elisa Chavez" was created before Salli was cast. We had a
basic look for the character, but no final models. After Salli was cast, we
asked her what her ethnic background was. (African-American largely, but
also Native American.) That seemed like an interesting background for Elisa,
so we changed her name to "Maza" which means "iron" in the Navajo language
(or at least that's what I was told by my assistant). We gave Elisa an
African-American mother and a Native American father. Then we asked Salli if
we could give photographs of her to our character designers. She said yes,
and they adjusted our existing models to look a bit more like Salli. So her
"look" was inspirational rather than, say, "traced".

By the way, we obviously reused the Chavez name for Elisa's boss Maria.
Two other discarded Elisa last names that were reused are (Maggie) Reed and
(Matt) Bluestone.

Greg responds...

That wasn't a scientific estimate. It also depends on how you define an
in-joke. It amused me to have Xanatos quote Hamlet and Monty Python in the
same scene in "Future Tense". Is that an in-joke? Probably not. It's part
of Xanatos' personality. I'd have to watch the episodes again. Maybe when
the questions calm down, I'll do that. Watch one episode per week and write
up whatever thoughts come to my head as I'm watching. Post them as ramblings.
I'll include any in-jokes I remember. Maybe. We'll see.

Greg responds...

Ages in parenthesis represent biological age when that age differs from the character's chronological age.

As of December 31, 1996:
Hudson - 1118 (59)
Goliath - 1058 (29)
Trio - 1038 (19)
Angela - 952 (21)
Bronx - 1018 (9)
Demona - 1058 (35)
Coldstone - 1058 (28)
Macbeth - 991 (52)
Xanatos - 41
Fox - 30
Alexander - not yet 1
Elisa - 28
Talon, Dracon - 26
Beth - 21
Katharine - 1020 (62)
Tom - 1010 (52)
Gabriel, Ophelia, Boudicca - 952 (20)

Greg responds...

Yeah. Titanium mesh. That's the ticket. C'mon, do you really want to see
Broadway's loincloth get shredded? It's a family show, after all.

Greg responds...

Delilah was programmed, just like the others, but Thailog added some special
instructions to her programming. I don't particularly agree with your
assessment, though I do think his "death" would have left a void in her
life, a void she might seek to fill.

Greg responds...

They are married.

Greg responds...

It's complicated, but basically, Oberon owed someone a favor.

Greg responds...

Actually, our gargoyles were frozen in stone in 994. Oberon banished his children in 995. There is a connection though it's not directly causal.

Greg responds...

When was Merlin mentioned in Oberon's presence? I don't remember that.

Greg responds...

I'm allowed to talk about anything I'm in the mood to discuss.

Xanatos went through a protracted, gradual change over the course of 65 episodes. Hopefully, you all thought it was organic and believable. But I never said he had stopped scheming. (Keep in mind, I had nothing to do with how he was portrated in the last twelve episodes of CHRONICLES.) I don't even believe that his goals have changed that much. But his priorities have definitely shifted, plus he gained a great deal of self-knowledge and a clearer view of what matters most in life. First and foremost, his family.
Second, true friends (or at least allies) that you can really count on. He has learned that you have to give if you ever hope to take. (But that doesn't
mean he's done taking.) As to his plans, I still think he wants immortality, so that's not over. And I felt he needed to deal with the Illuminati, who are likely to expect things from him that he's not prepared to deliver. Don't expect his methods to change much.

As to the why, well, frankly, the character demanded it. The relationship with Fox manifested itself to the pleasant surprise of everyone involved. We were all even more surprised (David included) to find out that he actually loved her. Every other step along the way was a natural outgrowth of the revelation that he was capable of love. His father influenced him as well.
Though he'd be loathe to admit it, David cares what his Petros thinks of him. It wasn't an accident that Petros was invited to his wedding.

Greg responds...

Nought.

Greg responds...

The short answer is that Macbeth & Demona asked for it. The Sisters weren't enforcing their will on the mortals, (well, they were, but Mac & D didn't know it), they were simply granting a request.

Actually, they were aiding Demona & Mac's desire to trade youth for power.
They then slipped the link in by using a specific magic spell for the youth transfer that included the immortality link. Sneaky, huh?

What you need to understand is that Oberon isn't constantly watching. His magical dictate hangs in the air around them. If they can create a justification in their own minds, no matter how superficial, they can magically get away with a hell of a lot. There's a risk involved. What if Oberon found out later? Would he care or regard it as insignificant? Would he buy their justification? Depends on his mood, probably. He's not exactly Mr. Consistent-Letter-Of-My-Law. As it is, I don't think he has found out, at least not so far.

(By the way, the reason that Demona is perpetually 35 years old is because Macbeth was 35 when they made that trade. He couldn't give her youth that he himself no longer possessed.)